1D-MarkIII - Front/Back Focus fine Adjustment ? What is this ?
Can someone elaborate on this ?

It allows you to adjust your camera if it's back or front focusing! Pretty cool.
You can do it on a global setting, or on a per lens basis. So, say your 16-35L is backfocusing, you can calibrate it yourself, in camera, and each time you attach that lens, the 1D MkIII will remember the setting.

Yep. There are some caveats such as the camera can't read a lens' serial number, so it'll treat all 16-35's the same, for example, even if one focuses properly while the other has front focusing issues.

Check out Page 21 of the White Paper for more info.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/public_files/Canon_EOS-1D_Mark_III_White_Paper.pdf

Ariel Bravy wrote:
Yep. There are some caveats such as the camera can't read a lens' serial number, so it'll treat all 16-35's the same, for example, even if one focuses properly while the other has front focusing issues.

Check out Page 21 of the White Paper for more info.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/public_files/Canon_EOS-1D_Mark_III_White_Paper.pdf


Dang. I'll have to stop buying 2 of each lens from now on.

Good thing about this feature is, You now don't need to ask "Is my 1D3 back/front focusing?" becuse you can now check for yourself!

Hope they put this in a coming 40D and 450D aswell.

maybe, as a wild guess, a future firmware upgrade can read lens' serial numbers if they figure a way to read/store it......?

Does this mean an end to our Back/Front focus troubles, and endless consumer reports on sending the Camera/Lens for re-calibration ?

Wow, I just wonder when this feature will be available in the ProSumer line ?

Jeez, now we'll get endless posts like:

"I've adjusted my 1dIII focussing on my 70-200L IS, but my pictures are still out of focus. Am I doing something wrong or do I send it back to Canon for recalibration?"....

bent-ove wrote:
maybe, as a wild guess, a future firmware upgrade can read lens' serial numbers if they figure a way to read/store it......?

hmm, if that's the case, the serial number would have been somehow programmed into the lens, rather than simply stamped onto it. I doubt they've been doing that all along...

roli_bark wrote:
Does this mean an end to our Back/Front focus troubles, and endless consumer reports on sending the Camera/Lens for re-calibration ?

Wow, I just wonder when this feature will be available in the ProSumer line ?

Let's hope so! It seems like an interesting way of dealing with a problem without actually solving it. Nevertheless, let's hope this feature trickles down into the consumer line. It'll be great for both Canon and for the consumer!

Mike Driscoll wrote:
Jeez, now we'll get endless posts like:

"I've adjusted my 1dIII focussing on my 70-200L IS, but my pictures are still out of focus. Am I doing something wrong or do I send it back to Canon for recalibration?"....

heh, I know you mean this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but one would hope that a person who plonks down enough cash to pick up that kind of gear would have enough photographic background to know the basics. Often times (but not always), those sorts of questions are brought up by relative newbies whose technique is not yet sound and would rather blame their gear than themselves.

Ariel Bravy wrote:
It seems like an interesting way of dealing with a problem without actually solving it.

Is this a feature or an admission of poor manufacturing tolerances? Canon may have just found a way to solve what must be the majority of their service requests.

I wonder if this feature is how Canon calibrates AF when you send the body to them, or if it's separate from a more high-precision tool they use at the centres.

Mike Driscoll wrote:
Jeez, now we'll get endless posts like:

"I've adjusted my 1dIII focussing on my 70-200L IS, but my pictures are still out of focus. Am I doing something wrong or do I send it back to Canon for recalibration?"....
I sometimes wonder how NEGATIVE an attitude can be ...
Hey - life is short, enjoy good news while you can ...

Let's brace ourselves for lots of newspaper/brick wall shots asking "do you think I've got my focus calibration right?"

arggghhhh!!!!

I don't think Canon encodes the serial number in to the lens firmware, they haven't really had a reason to up until now. They would have likely put it in the EXIF data all long had it been the case, and why would they not have used it in this system were it available? Perhaps a future addition to the EOS line...

I wonder which was the greater motivating factor for this feature? End user requests or their own service technicians?

If it works it will certainly eliminate a lot of service calls. Personally, it's the most common reason for me to take gear to Canon. I'll gladly do it myself any time, any place.

Sounds like a great feature. You should never need it, of course, but it would have let me keep my 1D2 for an extra 8 weeks instead of letting Canon have it. Yes, my 1D2 had a back focus problem.

ben_is_in wrote:
Ariel Bravy wrote:
Yep. There are some caveats such as the camera can't read a lens' serial number, so it'll treat all 16-35's the same, for example, even if one focuses properly while the other has front focusing issues.

Check out Page 21 of the White Paper for more info.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/public_files/Canon_EOS-1D_Mark_III_White_Paper.pdf


Dang. I'll have to stop buying 2 of each lens from now on.



Yep, it'll be a real pain to have to reset it for my spare 600's!!

Wow. A very nice and unexpected feature.

rscheffler wrote:
I wonder which was the greater motivating factor for this feature? End user requests or their own service technicians?


Yes.

This is sweet as this feature "will" trickle down to the consumer/prosumer bodies and relieve Canon Service in the process. Way cool for both parties. I for one have only two things to say in regard to this feature..... "Yippee!" and "Thank-You Canon.

BeeMan458 wrote:
This is sweet as this feature "will" trickle down to the consumer/prosumer bodies

Though I hope you're correct, it seems unlikely to me. This is a feature that in a pro's hands should alleviate service headaches for Canon. On the other hand, it's a feature that I believe will create more service headaches for Canon on consumer/prosumer bodies.

I'm just thinking of the bodies and of us who are in the know.

Usually, features have a way of migrating down the vine so as to give sales a competitive edge and the real sales are usually at the bottom end of the deal where most of us poor folk live.

Like I said, I hope you're right. It'd be a nice feature on a 5D replacement.

An adjusted lens will likely be spot on (now I'm British) within a certain range. It's easiest to see the error with the lens close to its minimum focus distance. But I wouldn't calibrate any of my lenses at that distance.